Parashat: Passover
Exodus 13:17–15:26
“And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph, who had exacted an oath from the children of Israel, saying, ‘God will be sure to take notice of you: then you shall carry up my bones from here with you.’”
— Exodus 13:19
During Passover, we take a pause from our regular weekly Parsha for readings related to the holiday. This Shabbat we return to the story of the Exodus, beginning with the Israelites on the run from the Egyptians and culminating in the Song of the Sea, that the Israelites sing after miraculously crossing the Sea of Reeds. When the Israelites set out, the Torah tells us that Moses makes sure to bring the bones of Joseph with him, fulfilling a promise made to Joseph many generations ago. Sixteenth-century commentator Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno teaches that the fulfillment of this promise falls to Moses because he now leads the Israelite community, and “any obligation undertaken communally must be honored by the leader of that community when the time and opportunity presents itself to discharge that obligation.”
— Rachel Petroff Kessler
